Publications

Those not involved in evolutionary biology are often surprised that we are far from answering two fundamental questions concerning biological diversity—how many species are there? and how are these species related evolutionarily? The recent edited volume by Hodkinson and Parnell, Reconstructing the tree of life: taxonomy and systematics of species rich groups, overviews some of the many challenges involved in addressing these basic questions, with a special emphasis on the need "to tackle its species-rich groups." There are good reasons, they argue, for basing an entire book on species-rich taxa—large genera constitute a "large portion of the diversity we seek to describe." For example, more than 50 seed plant genera have > 500 species each; 20 have over 1000 each (Ronsted et al., p. 130). Yet, systematists tend to steer clear of many species-rich groups—particularly at the generic level. Such genera are too complex to break into "bite-sized" pieces; too much to give Ph.D. students (at least ones we like) as a discrete four to five year project; too risky to take on before we have tenure.

The chapters in this volume are divided into three general areas: (1) Introduction and general context, (2) Reconstructing and using the tree of life, (3) Overview of species-rich groups (case studies). I overview some of the major topics covered in this volume and discuss several broader issues involving species-rich groups. For example, how much research effort do we actually spend on species-rich groups? Should species-rich groups merit the lion's share of our research effort and funding?